Despite the increased storage capacities of newly developing storage devices, such as the most recent versions of a USB flash drive, a user's storage needs will often exceed that which was once adequate. At that point, the user wanting to increase storage capacity has various options. One option is to obtain a new storage device with a greater capacity, when such a storage device becomes available, and the user will then have the task of transferring all existing stored data from the old storage device to the new storage device. The old storage device then becomes an unused resource.
Another option for a user wanting to increase storage capacity is to obtain additional storage devices and store data on the old and new devices. The user then has to manage data that is stored on multiple storage devices. The task can become burdensome as the user needs to access more and more file systems instead of one, which is the case when a single storage device has enough capacity for all the user's needs.
It would be desirable to be able to increase a host's storage capacity by using multiple storage devices and to be able to combine the device contents into a unified file system regardless of any difference in the file system formats of the underlying storage devices.